Cat's Cradle
by Solaris Moon
Summary: AU, AkuRoku, some OC inside Axel was the last person anyone sane would have thought was a Turk. Roxas was the last person they would have called a criminal. My, how the sane can be wrong... Sort of a FFVII crossover Happy 8/13!
1. Chapter 1

Title: Cat's Cradle

Title: Cat's Cradle

Summary: (AU-ish: keeps details from the game but mixes them with FFVII and a healthy dose of my own little mental universe- will have many descriptions, for clarity.) One wouldn't expect Axel to be a Turk. Then again, one wouldn't expect Roxas to be on the run for something he didn't do. But since when has anything been normal?

Rating: M

Warnings: The general shit. No citrus forseen. (Note: 'general shit' entails violence, language, possible mentions of nudity… and a meddling female OC not unlike Sakura.)

BGM: None

Comments: Random idea that smacked me upside the head. Enjoy.

Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts. Which is a fact that I am glad for, because that means I don't have Xemnas trying to find me and force me to give him the rights to it. You can have that one, Nomura-sama, he's all yours. (My brain deserts me when I'm awake at six in the blinking morning.)

* * *

Shot I: A Turk without a reason and a Criminal without a crime

* * *

Anyone who looked at Axel would not think 'Turk' right off hand.

Pyromaniac, oh yes, especially with the way he kept flicking that lighter. Guy who really needed Hair Gel Addicts Anonymous, of course, though he'd swear up and down that his hair was naturally that spiky (and if you didn't believe him, look at his older brother Reno). Prankster, yes, but you never really believed it until you woke up one morning with chocolate syrup in your shampoo bottle and koolaid in the showerhead. A whole host of names could describe the tattooed, redheaded, green eyed man.

Turk didn't make the list.

But a Turk he was, and a damned good one too, ranking in just below his brother. And when your brother was just about the highest-ranked guy in a group, that was saying something. And right now, he was not a happy camper. A normal day for Axel consisted of waking up, getting breakfast, getting a shower, dressing in that obnoxious blue suit (at least he got to wear his trenchcoat on the walk to work, he liked that much) and doing tedious deskwork for the next eight and a half hours, or more if there had just been a mission and he was filing things (they had such a fucked up system, he never could remember what went where, and bribing the little interns was getting harder and harder), come home, eat dinner, watch a little TV or read something, and go to sleep. Simple, idyllic days that brought home the bacon every week.

Those simple, idyllic days seemed doomed to be thrown off the nearest high cliff, thanks to this little mess… Whoops! Best to start at the beginning, huh? But that necessitates a jump back in time by a few hours and another introduction.

--

Anyone who looked at Roxas would not think 'criminal' right off hand.

Punk teenager, yes, definitely, he had the style for it, though it wasn't half as bad as his friend Larxene. Another guy in dire need of Hair Gel Addicts Anonymous, of course, though his were absolutely natural (as were his twin brother Sora's, but no one seemed to notice or care). Good student, perhaps, though you wouldn't think it until you saw his report card. Hell, even 'good kid' was on the long list of names that could be used in describing Roxas.

'Criminal', however, did not make the list.

But this further necessitates that little skip back in time, and so I will get to it.

--

"Larxene, we've gone on this tour a thousand times!" Roxas sighed as the two reached the Shinra Corporation building.

"Then this makes it one thousand and one. Quit bitching, you said you needed to get away from Sora for the day." Larxene huffed, adjusting her black baseball cap. Roxas sighed; this was true, his overly-bubbly twin had been unusually annoying today, and he needed the distance. Let his friend Riku take care of him, he didn't have anything to study today and he intended to have fun. The tour began, and Larxene quietly split off from the group, Roxas following her. He never paid attention to anything on the tours- he just figured Larxene did the same thing and that they had gotten lost. Roxas wandered around, eventually losing Larxene as well, confused as hell… until he ran into someone.

"Sorry, sorry, got separated from the tour group." He apologized. A small chuckle was the response.

"They're down on the ground floor again by now, kid, the tour's probably over. You'd best hop an elevator and get going before they leave you behind." Roxas looked up to see a guy with brilliant red hair, flashing green eyes, and a cocky smile that amazingly didn't seem to move the tiny upside down triangle tattoos on either cheek.

"Thanks, sir," Roxas said, and took off, fighting back the urge to shudder. He knew of the Turks, who didn't in this day and age, but he'd never actually seen one. To have run into one, quite literally, thank you…

_Just don't think of how he could have killed you and you'll be okay,_ Roxas decided, and kept going. Shortly after he reached the ground floor, he found Larxene, looking very angry and very impatient. "Sorry! I got lost…"

"Come on, Roxas, let's leave, this joint's the pits. I thought they'd add more stuff but I was so wrong it wasn't even funny. Let's just get." She seemed to have something in her pocket, but Roxas didn't get a chance to ask what it was before Larxene shuffled him off to the car. As soon as they got to the car, she turned a glare at him. "I would have thought you could stay with the damned group!"

"I thought you were following them! I zoned out halfway through floor one, we've gone on this tour so many times! And what's in your pocket?!" Roxas glared right back, making Larxene growl in frustration and slam her hands down on the steering wheel.

"Never you mind, Roxas, let's just get you home. And if you don't see me for a while, Dad's trying for custody, so I may try his house for a while."

"But you're 19, Larxene." Roxas pointed out. She was only a year older than him and Sora, and they'd known each other since middle school, but that wasn't the point.

"So? Dad still wants custody." The whole story was shady, but Larxene was the one giving him a ride home, and unless he fancied the idea of walking almost eight miles away to the suburbs he'd keep his mouth shut.

He liked reaching his house in a half hour, not four hours.

--

"Shit, shit, SHIT!" Reno cursed. Axel knew that if his brother used the same expletive multiple times, it was a really bad day for the Turks. "Axel, take a look at this!" Curiosity got the best of Axel and he came over to look at the security cameras in the main department. "This is at eleven-thirty four. See that case there?"

"Of course, Reno." Axel sighed. "It's got that one materia in it, right? The unknown thing that turned up at that Cetra dig?"

"The very one. See how it's still there? Good. Fast forward to twelve-fifty-five. Last guy leaves for lunch. That would be…"

"Me, yeah, I know. That damn computer froze on me and I had to rewrite half of that damn report, and I promised to have it on old Shinra's desk before I left for any breaks, even a bathroom one. Shit, I was hungry…" Axel sighed, recalling how his body was screaming at him to say 'fuck it' and go to the cafeteria for some dismally sickening attempt at food- Reno just said he wasn't eating on the right days, but free food meant he ate there everyday and it never got any better- or even to go get a drink (which would then necessitate the aforementioned bathroom break that Axel was forbidden to take until he finished that report).

"Not the time, Axel. You were the last person to leave there. Did you lock up?" Reno questioned.

"Fuck yes I did. I locked the case, armed the system, did everything short of tucking that damned materia in for a nap and reading it a bedtime story. And I made sure to lock the office, not just arm the keypad this time." Boy, had that brought on a reprimand… he hadn't forgotten to deadbolt the door since Shinra chewed his hide for that one.

"All right, I believe you." Reno nodded. Hell, why not, the cameras out in the hall even showed him locking the door before walking off in one hell of a hurry… Besides, his brother had no reason to lie. "Fast forward again to one-twenty-eight. See that? Blond kid, messy hair. Somehow got in past the keypad, got past the locks, and see what they're taking?"

"The god-damned materia!" Axel growled. In the camera it was tough to tell what the blond was- androgyny was a bitch on security cameras. And it was the androgyny one could see in just-barely-past-pubescence teens… or those who aged incredibly slowly, like that one Turk girl… never could remember her name.

"Fast forward one last time to one-forty-five. One of the interns comes in, sees the materia gone, raises the alarm. You're shown as one of the first three in the room." Reno was ashamed to admit that he'd dismissed the call for a minute, thinking it a crank call from his younger brother or something until Rude received a text politely requesting him to either beat the living shit out of Reno or convince him that the damn materia had indeed been taken, just to get him back to the office, this message delivered courtesy of one younger brother. "Think, Axel. Did you run into anyone suspicious on your way back to the office?"

"No… wait, yes… there was one. Little blond guy, said he was on the tour and got separated from the group. Messy hair, punk clothes, slight build… though his clothes weren't all black… I distinctly remember a black undershirt, a white over shirt, and khaki pants… and some weird zipper pull thing, like a shuriken almost. I'd think that'd show up on the cams, it was freaking huge as far as zipper pulls go. And he was shorter than the figure on the tape."

"They're called lifts and slight platforms to shoes, I know you have a pair of boots like that, Axel." Reno sighed. "And a change of clothes could be hidden easily… did he have a backpack or something like that?"

"No, no bag on him, I'd remember that. But those pants were pretty big… I'm starting to wonder if that's just the style or something…" Axel said darkly. Just then a breathless intern ran in, taller-than-sensible heels clicking on the tiled floor of the office.

"I'm so sorry, but the security task force finished weeding out every blond who was on the tour today." She gently set the stack of papers down on the table, straightening the perhaps forty or fifty papers as she straightened up herself. "This was as narrow as they could get at the time…"

"This is fine. Thanks, darlin'." Reno smiled, and the intern practically floated out of the room. Axel sighed.

"Seriously, bro, you have to teach me that smile someday. It'd make filing a hell of a lot easier."

"Hush your yap and get to work. Start looking for a face you recognize." Reno laughed indulgently, knowing that this would be a task and a half and completely not pitying his brother.

"This one's too old… female… too young… bleach blond, this kid's hair was natural, I'm willing to bet… straight hair, too long…" And so it went until the thirty-sixth or thirty-seventh entry. "Found him!"

Shinra Corporation, in an effort to protect against thefts like the one suffered today, registered each tour member as a temp file into a special computer, keeping a photographic record of each tourist and their name. Falsification was damn near impossible- they had to have ID or an adult present to verify they were who they said they were. It was an incredibly interesting tour, though, or so Axel had heard, and that made getting in worth it. As it said here, the kid was named Roxas Hikaru, so the rest was a quick search away. He didn't even have to boot up the Shinra network to do it either; his cell phone had net access and it was a hell of a lot more confidential.

"Well, I'm off. I'm going to offer the kid the chance to give it back before we press charges. Probably some bored teenager looking for kicks."

"You'd know all about that, huh, Axel?" Reno laughed. At 24, he was only three years older than his brother, and when he had been recruited into the Turks at 17 (fresh out of high school), he'd been taking care of his 14 year old, damn-near-delinquent brother when a call had come for him to hightail it to Shinra. Not feeling comfortable leaving Axel alone at home, he'd taken him with him… where Axel had promptly lifted a pair of chakaram, duped a secretary into letting him have a peek at Reno's files, and promptly left a note therein that said something to the effect of 'this is pathetic, I'm going to party, see you in the morning'. Luckily building security had caught him before he got out the door- he'd forgotten about the chakaram, and that the Turks had a specific uniform to wear while on duty, and weapons were not taken on the street unless you were on official business. The Turks had started grooming him for recruitment immediately after, and he had joined just after his graduation at 18 (he turned 18 only a few days before graduation).

"Sure would." Axel laughed, always in good humor about the circumstances that had foreshadowed his recruitment. Suddenly he had a thought. "Reno, do me a favor. Check to see if there are any people in that list who have gone on this tour more than three times, cross-ref that with the dates this Roxas kid has gone, and tell me if any Turk agents have either quit or taken leave recently or if any are scheduled in the near future."

"Sure thing. You want a chicken sandwich while I'm at it?" Reno sighed, rolling his eyes- that list would take forever.

"…Sure, I'm gonna want that sandwich when I get back from talking to that Roxas kid." Axel said absently as he left. The red motorcycle was in it's normal spot, and Axel smiled, glad that the Turks had special parking privileges. It would have been a bitch trying to find the modded racing cycle today; he wanted this situation over and done with as soon as humanly possible. Besides… that Roxas kid had been cute. And Axel was not above liking another guy- being bi, he had every right.

He kinda wanted to ask him out to dinner after this whole thing was taken care of. After all, his tour info had shown that he showed a driver's license, and the date of birth put him down at 18. "Roxy… I'm coming for you." He laughed, low and dark as he pushed headphones into his ears and pushed the helmet down over his head. The player started in with something almost Eurobeat, and he smiled.

Great way to start the conclusion of an already too-hectic day.

--

While Axel was sorting through photos to find the one golden-haired kid he suspected of this crazy stuff, said golden-haired kid was currently at home, reading over some magazine he'd bought at a grocery store on his way home. Larxene hadn't been happy about the stop, but she'd promised his cousin she'd do it. Cloud was currently downstairs, working on making something edible out of the groceries.

The twins were living with their cousin after an accident had taken their parents when they were in middle school. Neither one had been overjoyed at having to move from Destiny Islands, a warm, tropical paradise, to this cold, chemical-smelling suburb called Twilight Town, just outside of Midgar, but Cloud owned his own highly-successful delivery service and was their only relative. They just thanked their stars that their younger sister Namine (only younger by about a year, really)had gotten into a very prosperous art school on scholarship, and was currently living there. They didn't want to expose her to this hell.

Of course, they had friends here- there was Hayner, Pence and Olette, who hung out with Roxas… and there was the enigmatic Larxene. Riku, a friend from Sora's childhood who had moved to Twilight Town just a year and a half before the fateful accident, still hung around with Sora, and the brunet boy still wrote to their old friend Kairi on the islands- she, Sora, and Riku were all planning a get-together later that summer, when Sora could take time off work at the shop and use his wages to pay for his ticket. Riku had offered, but the Hikaru brothers were very independent. It came from the Strife side, their mother's side, as their father had once said.

"Rox! Hey, Roxas!" came the call up the stairs. Cloud Strife did not sound like a happy guy, and the thundering steps up the stairs didn't help his case any. "Any good reason why a Turk would be here asking about that tour you and Larxene took today?"

"Huh?" Roxas asked, the first thing that came to his mind, really a compilation of 'A Turk?', 'What about the tour?', and 'What the hell?'.

"Roxas… just go down there and handle it." Cloud sighed. "If I leave the kitchen much longer, dinner will burn. And kid… take your Struggle club. Say you have a game you were going to if need be." Cloud did not trust the Turks as far as he could throw one- and considering he hefted packages most of the day and even found time to help out in a local bar a friend of his ran, that would be a considerable distance. Roxas did as he was told, and headed downstairs to see…

"You're the guy I ran into earlier!" he noted in shock. Axel laughed once.

"You betcha, Roxas. Name's Axel, I'm just here to ask some quick questions… see, I've very interested in what you were doing on that floor today, especially considering it's restricted access."

"Huh? Restricted? Then how were Larxene and I able to get on it? They told us all about the special keycard for the elevator floors on the tour." Roxas said in confusion. He was really glad Sora was out at that movie with Riku now- he did not need to deal with this shit around his twin, who'd only tease and make it worse. Axel stalked over to the blond, a predatory look in his green, green eyes.

"That's what I'd like to know," Axel smiled, but this time it didn't seem to really reach his eyes. "So you and Larxene, huh? Got separated from the tour group? What were you doing, looking for bathrooms or a nice quiet spot to make out?"

"Ugh, no. Larxene is a friend, nothing more, thank God for that." Roxas shuddered, and Axel bit back a laugh. The make out thing had been a joke, but it was well worth it for that reaction of disgust. "And seriously, I thought Larxene was following the tour guide, we've been on the tour at least twenty times…"

"Thirty nine, forty today." Axel laughed. "Congratulations on taking the most tours of Shinra. Were you casing it or what?"

"Casing it? What the fuck?" the boy asked, starting to get indignant about this. "Are you saying something got stolen?"

"Please. Like you don't know what it was."

"No, o wise one. Care to enlighten me?" Roxas asked, copping his defensive attitude he got when something was going shit for him.

"Something old and valuable, that's all you need to know. Now think long and hard about it, kid- maybe you're the kind that blacks out when you steal something, safeguard against your conscience."

"Mister… Axel, was it? Dude, I have no idea what you're talking about. All I know is that I got lost from the group because Larxene and I had lingered to look at this one diagram or something, then I got lost from Larxene, ran into you- which I am very sorry about, in case I didn't say it this afternoon…"

"You did," Axel broke in, "but the repeat helps considerably."

"…I followed your advice and went back to the ground floor, found Larxene since the tour was over, went back to her car… she railed at me for a few minutes, but that's her style, she's really short tempered and impatient, so I just figure she forgot about a date tonight or something… but her jacket pocket looked sort of heavy…"

"Jacket? Style, color, give me info!"

"Just a plain black sweat jacket, long sleeved, no hood, but she had a baseball cap on. Plain black on that too, but that's her style- punk all the way." Suddenly Axel had an idea that this kid wasn't fooling with him, and maybe he had the wrong idea all along. It would take a check with Reno to know, but that could all be accomplished… and if he could borrow Roxas and get more info… like his favorite restaurant and type of movie… all the better.

"Great! Kid, come with me…" He started towards Roxas, hands outstretched.

It was a credit to Cloud's teachings, it seemed, that Roxas knew how to wield that Struggle bat hard enough to knock someone out, and that was how Axel ended up: crumpled on the floor between two blonds, Cloud having come in from behind when he heard the words 'come with me' and smacked Axel upside the back of the head with the ladle hard enough to contribute to the TKO that was now drooling on the beige carpet beneath their feet.

"Oh my god, we killed him…" Roxas said in shock. Cloud ducked down to check for a pulse.

"No, just knock out. But I don't want you going anywhere with that Turk… get your keyblades." Cloud said, blue eyes boring into Roxas's own. "Grab a bag, grab some stuff, hit the road for a while. You always said you wanted to see Gold Saucer or Wutai, check them out. I've got some favors I can call in… get this cleared up… I heard the story, I'll bet Larxene did it, and that's why she practically pitched you out of the car without stopping…"

"Cloud, do you think they think I stole this… whatever it is?"

"They did, but it seems Axel here is convinced you didn't. Maybe he can talk some sense into them. The more I think about it, the more it makes sense. Larxene always asked you to go on the tours with her. Always."

"Because we're both blond, even if she's a little taller than me… and we're both really slight." Roxas said, beginning to get miffed. "That also explains the weight in her pocket… I'm going to talk to her." Roxas glared at the unconscious form of Axel on the floor. "When sleeping beauty here wakes up, give him Larx's address, I think I may take your advice and hit the road for a while. Should I call or anything?"

"Cell phones are easy to trace- the towers." Cloud said, and that explained it all. He'd taught them all about that when they entered high school, knowing a teenage boy's penchant for trouble. "I can call friends along the way and have them look out for you. I've been meaning to call Zack and Aerith for a while now anyhow, see how they're doing in Radiant Garden."

Roxas grabbed the keyblades he and his brother had learned to wield as children, some clothing, and a few electronics (he was a teen still, leaving the mp3 player would have been like ripping his lungs out and leaving them, and the cell phone never left his pocket, so it was easy to forget about it, and what if he needed it?) and grabbed the car key from the rack by the door. Axel's frame was no longer in the living room, and Cloud was busy getting his Buster Sword out of the display case by the fireplace (he would have set it on the mantle, he said, but the last time he'd tried that the whole damn thing had just snapped off like a twig, which explained the new mantle in an old house).

"Be careful." Cloud said, receiving a quick hug from Roxas. "I'll give Sora some BS to live by. Besides, his trip should be coming soon, he'll be too busy enjoying himself."

"Good… I don't want Sora to be disappointed." Roxas nodded. "Hey, Cloud, do me one favor, though."

"What's that?"

"Remove Axel from the driveway. I'd rather not be gotten on murder charges. As is, I'm facing deep shit unless Larxene is home and he wakes up ASAP."

--

"Roxas! Darling, how are you!" The tall, beautiful blonde that was Larxene's mother smiled from the doorway, hugging the smaller boy.

"I'm fine, I just have to talk to Larxene." Now the woman looked distressed. "Has she already left for her dad's?"

"Left for her dad's? Darling… her father is in prison." Larxene's mother said, confused. "He's there for at least another year before he can even think of making parole. And Larxene herself… she vanished off somewhere this afternoon, I haven't heard from her since. She just said something about going on a road trip and left."

--

Axel woke up with a bitch of a headache in what smelled like grass… and upon further inspection, turned out to be so. He was lying on the front lawn of the Strife-Hikaru household, and dusk was starting to set in. The front door opened, casting a shadow across the lawn, and Axel forced himself to look up through the nausea. There, in the doorway, stood Cloud Strife, former member of the Shinra SOLDIER troops- Axel couldn't believe he'd missed the taint of Mako in those brilliant blues earlier. Maybe he was getting soft in the Turks. And he sure as hell hadn't noticed that Buster Sword the man had slung across his back either.

"Shit… I fucked up somewhere, didn't I?" Axel tried to laugh it off.

"4430 Soleil Lane." Cloud said.

"Say what?"

"Larxene's address. Roxas told me to tell you he was going to talk to her. He called from her house and said she wasn't there, though. You may want to talk to her mother, though, see who she knew." And with that, Cloud Strife returned to his house, closed the door, and thought no more of the Turk on his front lawn.

Axel, meanwhile, pulled out his cell phone and thumbed in the speed dial for his brother. "The name is Axel, and you better commit it to memory, Roxas, because I am going to find you." He muttered bitterly as he held the phone up to his ear to relay this new info to Reno and get an update.


	2. Chapter 2

Title: Cat's Cradle

Summary: (AU-ish: keeps details from the game but mixes them with FFVII and a healthy dose of my own little mental universe- will have many descriptions, for clarity.) One wouldn't expect Axel to be a Turk. Then again, one wouldn't expect Roxas to be on the run for something he didn't do. But since when has anything been normal?

Rating: M

Warnings: The general shit. No citrus forseen. (Note: 'general shit' entails violence, language, possible mentions of nudity… and a meddling female OC... you meet her soon.)

BGM: None

Comments: Wow! I am a screw up. Really. This story is being released on my Deviant Art account as well as here, since dA has an option to load pictures with stories. (For link to dA, check out my profile, I believe it's my homepage.) I meant to upload the stories last night, but, well... my boyfriend gets off work at 9 and just as I finished uploading them he got home. So it was socialize with the boyfriend time after that, and I didn't upload them. So, I'm sorry! I'll keep to my weekly updation schedule better in the future, I hope.  
Also, here's a warning: the OC shows up this chapter. If you don't like her, I'm sorry, but she has a very important part in this story. Please just stick with it. It gets better, I hope.  
Finally, benefits to checking my dA version of the stories? Well, for one, you get chapter illustrations, which means you get to see my attempts at drawing Axel and Roxas (which actually didn't turn out so bad for my first time drawing them). For another... well, there really isn't another reason besides the illustrations. :) Just thought I'd try.

Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts. Which is a fact that I am glad for, because that means I don't have Xemnas trying to find me and force me to give him the rights to it. You can have that one, Nomura-sama, he's all yours. (My brain deserts me when I'm awake at six in the blinking morning.)

* * *

Shot II: A string of fate, a child's simple game

* * *

"Wow, man, you look like shit." It was that Turk girl, the one whose name always escaped Axel. This time, she was lounging on the couch, a thick book across her stomach and a string laced through her fingers.

"Tell me something I don't already know…"

"Man, can't believe you forget my name. I only live here." She sighed, rolling her eyes.

"Yeah, well, a lot of people live here and I don't remember their names either." Axel snapped at her. He remembered a few things about her… she preferred the slim katana over all other weapons for it's grace, but a clean kill was her preferred method if it came to that, so she was mainly a garrotter… he didn't want to know where she'd gotten that string now. The commons area of the apartment building Axel, Reno, and this girl lived in was not highly populated this time of night, and Axel just wanted to get his stuff and set out. He'd already been approved for this- they wanted this Roxas kid back for an official statement and a polygraph, and to compare him to the footage when the guys in tech got done cleaning it up and sharpening the resolution of the film. But no, he had to go through the commons to get to his apartment, and at this time of night, that meant passing by…

"Sweet Gaea… It's Izumi, man, I-Zu-Mi. Remember that now." She said, huffing in disappointment. "So, we got a bit of excitement today, eh? Shame I was busy tailing that dude… wanna fill me in?"

"No, Izumi, I do not."

"Hm… I'm going to guess you got those goose eggs on your forehead and at the back of your skull when someone knocked you out because you were coming at them. Oh, haven't you been warned about those young girls?"

"It's a boy and he's fucking legal! It's just he's a suspect in today's robbery!" Axel knew he'd said too much when Izumi smiled, flipping the tail of her long brown hair over her shoulder, bright violet eyes shining in glee (though that could have been Mako, he supposed).

"Oh, a robbery? Now you have me interested… spill." She smiled, tucking the page of the book down, closing it, and sitting up properly, the suit evening out. So Axel did spill, from running into the boy to finding out his name was Roxas to visiting him at his home and waking up to find that he'd flown the coop. They still needed confirmation but it looked more and more like this Larxene girl had done the job- security placed Roxas arriving in the hall near the room just after the robbery had occurred. He was pretty much clear.

"And that's not all." Axel sighed, noticing Izumi weaving the string between her fingers again. "The elevator logs show that a keycard was used, so it must have been an inside job. Thing is, it didn't register the employee ID…"

"It never does. Security flaw that they say is for anonymity but is really just laziness on the programmers." Izumi pitched in. She should know- she had dated a guy in the security department for a while.

"…Just the first three digits, and there are literally hundreds of people with the first three digits in their security code 105. But this proves that it was partially an inside job and that the girl, if the boy's reaction is any judge that he wasn't in on it, was casing the place all 41 times she went on the tour."

"41?" Izumi questioned, never dropping a link in her furious weaving. "I thought you said he'd gone 40 times even."

"Well, apparently she made one trip alone, we're going to talk to the cousin again, if he doesn't gut the Turk with his Buster Sword. Paranoid former SOLDIER…"

"If you worked with Sephiroth you'd be paranoid too." Izumi said, and shuddered. "My brother worked with him, really close… scared him shitless, he said."

"You have a brother?"

"Had." Izumi shrugged. "He died in that massive fire in Nibelheim- when Sephiroth went loco for a while… I know he's not entirely back to normal now, but I am glad they made him take leave. Shit, he was scary…"

"No argument there, sister." Axel nodded. "But my point is, we're going to talk to the cousin again, provided he doesn't gut the Turk who goes to talk, and see if the girl would have any reason to make one trip alone pretty much right in the middle of her casing. See if the kid had a school trip or was sick or something."

"You said the kid had a twin brother, right? And a group of friends?" Izumi said. "Talk to them too- kids will tell their friends what they won't tell their own family, and twins are bloody close."

"What, was your brother a twin?" Axel sighed, getting miffed with this girl.

"Yes, in fact." Izumi said. "Hiroshi and I were very close. I told him everything, and he in turn told me everything. We talked about things we wouldn't even tell our own parents."

"Oh… I'm sorry."

"Don't be. You didn't know." Izumi shrugged. "But talk to the brother and the friends, they may have noticed subtle changes or he may have told them something. Even something said in jest could be deadly serious in this situation. And are you weeding through for Turks who recently quit or took leave with the security code 105?"

"Yes, that was something I thought of this afternoon." Axel said proudly.

"Good. You really are Reno's brother." Izumi admitted as she held up her finished weaving. "Ah, Jacob's Ladder. I do remember after all."

"Remember what?"

"How to do cat's cradle. See? It looks tough but it's really all how you move the string around your fingers… rather like dealing with people sometimes." She grinned, dropped the string, and replaced it inside her coat. "Happy hunting."

"Izumi? Why are you playing cat's cradle?"

"Maybe I want to. Maybe it's something to give me a break from reading. Or maybe…" she said, opening the book again, "I got nostalgic for my brother after reading this and I wanted to do something that reminded me of him. Something we did as kids." Axel just settled for not knowing for sure and moving on, grabbing his stuff and heading out.

Izumi had a point, though, he mused as he put the headphones in his ear and turned the music player on, rock filtering through into his ears as he shoved the helmet down on his head to begin his search for Roxas. Cat's cradle could be a philosophical game. It wasn't how much string you had tied together; it was how you moved your fingers and manipulated that string into going where you wanted it to, so you could catch that perfect shape to make something intricate out of something simple. And Axel smiled as he turned down the road that led to that Larxene girl's home, intent on a few questions. He paused the player only long enough to switch it to phone mode- he couldn't very well pull out his cell phone on his bike and if he was tailing someone they'd notice a cell phone/music player. The solution was simple, then: tailor a phone into an mp3 player for the agent. It had become a very popular piece of equipment for new Turk agents.

"Reno, it's Axel. Keep me posted on the situation, will ya, bro? I'm going to talk to that chick's mom, see if she'd know of any places her daughter may go. Ask the brother and friends, and if you get anything out of Mister Strife or the kid's group, gimme a call. Oh, and bro? Watch out- former SOLDIER, worked with Sephiroth. As Izumi would say it, he has a right to be paranoid. Later."

--

"He remembers her name… for now." Reno laughed as he got done listening to the voicemail. Rude looked over at Reno with only the slightest tilt of his head (no one else would have thought he moved, but Reno had worked with him so long that he was more aware of Rude's movements than anyone else would be) and Reno laughed.

"Izumi?"

"That's the one. Sheesh, lives six doors down from her and can't remember her consistently. But that's Izumi for you- and that's how she likes it. Oh, and by the way, Axel says this guy was a SOLDIER- worked with Sephiroth and has a right to be paranoid." At this one, both guys laughed, though Rude's laughter was short-lived and only a slight movement of the shoulders. "Yeah, that's what I thought when I heard it too. I mean, we work in the same company as Sephiroth, I think we know the guy is scary beyond all reason. But I guess Axel doesn't realize that when Sephiroth went crazy we had to have some help reeling him in." Reno grinned, and the two got out of the car and walked up to the door. It opened on a blond man of average height, in a dark purple sweater and black jeans. He really looked the part of the average suburban guy…

…Except for the massive Buster Sword slung across his back. Had one of the housewives been out walking the dog or something (as several were wont to do as part of a group diet effort), they would have thought the end was nigh. There was that nice man who was raising his two cousins (three, really, but one was off at a very nice art school), carrying a massive sword that their husbands in their prime would have had issues lifting, yet he was carting something that had to weigh about 100 pounds easy on his back… and he looked like he was ready to draw it and fight to the death when he saw the two men in the crisp blue suits.

Reno, for his part, wasn't fazed. "Yo! How's life been treating you, Cloud?" he asked conversationally. Still Cloud didn't pull his hand away from the sword grip… though his hand did loosen a tiny bit. "Hey, I was wondering, can I ask you a couple of things? And is the munchkin's bro here?"

"He got home after your brother left. I'd recognize one of your family anywhere, Reno." Cloud muttered, finally letting go of the sword and turning to the stairs, letting the Turks in. "SORA!"

"WHAT?" The kid learned fast that you did not reply 'yeah' to Cloud, because then you could be in for any number of hells, including but not limited to inventory when one of his other deliveries interfered.

"COMPANY!" Sora knew that tone, and he got to his feet to head for the door, straightening the collar of his shirt before he left.

"You can wait here if you want, Riku, I'm sure this can't take long…"

"AND RIKU COMES TOO!"

"Or not," the silver haired teen laughed as he ruffled the brown spikes and hugged the slender frame. "I bet they wanna hear about Roxas, so stop worrying. I bet they clear it up for us fast."

"Yeah." Sora sniffled. Riku had been comforting him; Roxas was gone and Sora wasn't sure where he was, he was nervous and he didn't like being separated from his brother too long. The two headed downstairs to see two Turks sitting on the couch.

"Hi, guys, I'm Reno, and this guy here is Rude. He doesn't say much, so if he talks it's important." The redhead sitting on the couch smiled. "Now, we just wanna know a couple of things about your brother Roxas and a friend of his named Larxene…"

--

"Has your daughter been seeing anyone? Is there anyone she'd run off to?" Axel asked the tall blonde woman sitting on the couch as he paced. The woman shook her head.

"No, Larxene never told me anything about who she dated… the most she'd tell me is when she left the house, and I really don't think she told me about all those in fact…"

"What about a diary or blog, ma'am?"

"She mentioned in passing she kept a web journal, but it seemed like an accident when she mentioned it and she never mentioned it again… I wouldn't know the password, and when she left she took her computer with her… I should have given her a desktop but she wanted the specific laptop so bad…"

"Figures… carry it with so it's harder to get hold of… and I'm going to venture a guess that she's the type who would keep passwords long, complicated, and in her head."

"Not long or complicated, no, but they were spelled strangely or they would be foreign words that I would never know… She used to keep a list but that stopped when I found it when I was cleaning her room one day…"

"Touch chick to hack, I see…" Axel nodded as his phone went off, the loud ringtone startling him. "Sorry, I have to take this, I'll only be a moment."

"Take your time." The woman smiled. Axel grinned back and left the room for a moment.

"Reno?"

"Axel, it's… oh, wait. Never mind. Anyway, you had it right- the brother knew more about Larxene than the cousin did, and then he called Roxas's group and they were a veritable wealth of info. The kid's mom around?"

"Other room, should I shield her from this?"

"No, I'd say let her hear, do her more good hearing it, she may remember something." With that Axel came back in, smiling.

"Ma'am, I'm sorry, but this is one of my coworkers on the line, and he has some information about your daughter that he thinks may help jog your memory a bit. If you don't mind me taking a seat, I can put this on speaker and we can both hear it."

"Of course." The woman said calmly, hands folded in her lap as Axel grabbed a plush white chair and hit the speaker button on the phone. "Reno, go for it."

"All right then." The voice over the speaker was crackly, but clear enough to understand. "Seems that this… Larxene was a regular tough chick in high school- she got in fights, got caught with a knife on her once…"

"She swore up and down that she had forgotten it was in her pocket, it was a jacket she didn't wear often…" her mother said.

"So the kid's brother said that once he asked about the abnormal amount of tours that they were going on, he was kidding with her when he asked why she was going on all the tours, if she was casing the place. She slammed him against a brick wall and threatened to slice his face off. It took three people to pull her off him and Roxas wouldn't speak to her for a week. That's not the tour she went on alone, though."

"The tour she went on alone… she said that Roxas was ill that weekend, a 24 hour bug and she had to use her ticket or else she'd have wasted her money…"

"I'm sorry, ma'am. That was the case, and she was asking all sorts of security questions like how high the resolution on the cameras were and how many cameras were on the average floor, in the average office, things of that sort. She didn't get many answers and I'm willing to bet if we had her computer we'd find a search about it or the network hacked- we had that downtime shortly after we got it…" Reno sounded contemplative. "And when we talked to the friends, we found that she was always joking how she could rob a bank and as long as she had Roxas with her she was in the clear, maybe she finally decided to prove it."

"The cousin…" Rude said quietly.

"Right, right, the cousin! Seems that the cousin noticed a definite hurry to Larxene's actions that day. When he got home, Roxas said she hadn't really wanted to stop to let him get groceries but she had promised, and when they reached his house she practically threw him out of the car without stopping and drove off."

"Yeah, Roxas said she had been acting weird since they left…"

"Weird? She said her father was asking for custody!" Reno laughed.

"How is that weird?" Axel failed to see the point.

"She's 19, Ax." Reno sighed.

"And her father," the woman piped in, "is in jail. For grand theft auto and hijacking an armored truck. He's been down in the prison near Gongaga jungle for about three years now… and he's got at least 12 more months before he could even dream of being paroled."

"That is weird. But one hell of a cover story." Axel agreed. "Anything else, Reno?"

"Nothing new right now, we're looking into who she hung out with outside of Roxas and that group- we've got another Turk on the way to your house, ma'am, to get a list, so if you would please write down all the names of people you remember her hanging out with, we'll compile the lists and get going on that lead. Perhaps we can find her and clear this up." Reno said, even sounding assuring over the phone.

"Yes… yes, I'll get on that right away." The blonde said, nodding as she found paper and a pencil. Axel hung up and extended a hand.

"Thank you for your time, ma'am. You'll be the first we call when we find your daughter."

"Thank you…" she murmured, closing the door behind him. Axel sighed as he climbed back on the bike.

_Pathetic… the Turks reduced to little more than cops… guess I better put out APBs on the kids…or better yet…_ he thought.

--

The phone was ringing, startling Izumi out of a peaceful sleep. She'd been so bored, so tired on her stakeout, she was ready to sleep… but that was a no go. "Izumi speaking." She yawned.

"Hey, Izumi, just the girl I wanted to talk to."

"Whaddaya want, Axel, it's fucking midnight." She said in that deadpan way.

"I wanted to know if you wanna get involved in this little shenanigan, every bit helps and all."

"Whaddaya need?" she asked, starting to get interested. She climbed out of her bed and threw open the closet, finding her suit and moving about the room.

"You don't even have to leave home for this one- there should be a couple of pictures in the Shinra network, you can use my access code for it, the file's in my docs under the heading 'Materia'. I need you to send out APBs to all surrounding areas and popular tourist destinations like Gold Saucer or Hollow Bastion. The two kids in there- Roxas and Larxene- are who we're trying to net. Roxas is innocent, I'm sure of it, but put him down as wanted for questioning, and the girl on suspicion of robbery, but keep it quiet who it's for. We don't want this getting out."

"No we certainly do not." Izumi smiled, snapping her jacket crisp and waking a sleeping German Shepherd-Chow mix on her bed. "But if I want to get this done before next year, I'll have to go into the office. Do you have a paper file I can look through?"

"Yeah, right on my desk." Axel said. She could hear the roar of the racing bike, that high-pitched engine whine, and the dog growled. "Dude… you have a dog?"

"That's nothing. Back home I have three cats and three puppies. Hell, one of the cats is named for the General himself."

"You named a cat Sephiroth?"

"Oh, aye," she smiled, slipping into a tongue her grandmother used as a joke. "She's a fine looking cat too, beautiful coat. I'll read over the file while I'm sending the stuff, maybe I can come up with something. I'll call with results. Oh, and Axel?"

"Yeah?"

"If you end up stopping in Nibelhiem, do me a favor. I wouldn't ask it of you except that this will make us even: go to the reactor site, where the shit went down. Say hi to Hiroshi for me." And with that Izumi hung up. The dog was sitting by the foot of the bed, big brown eyes curious and ears flopped over. He didn't look particularly threatening, but he was a fairly decent sized dog, and very faithful to Izumi. "Come on, Nanashi," she smiled as she slid the leash onto the collar of the dog. "We have work to do."

--

"Marly, that was brilliant!" Larxene crowed as the two drove down the highway. "The heist was so pathetically easy…"

"I know, baby, I know." Marluxia laughed, stripping off a short black wig and throwing it to the back seat, letting his long pink hair flow over his shoulders. "They're probably having conniptions right now, wondering where that materia has gotten to…"

"And Roxas takes the fall! Brilliant!" Larxene laughed. "All of that planning… it so paid off."

"And since today was my last day of work as 'Tachibana Hideki', we are golden, baby! Golden!" He would have loved to take out the dark gray contacts but that would mean stopping long enough to get them out, and he didn't want to do that. Instead, he settled for stripping off that dark blue jacket that was a good indicator of being a Turk. "Now all we do is wait for it to cool down and we sell the materia to the highest bidder… and while we wait we can find out what it does. It must have been special to the Cetra for them to keep it in that little temple."

The two drove on, oblivious to the younger blond about 3 and a half hours behind them, and the redheaded Turk on the motorcycle about an hour and a half behind the blond and gaining. Shortcuts were a Turk's best friend on this occasion… and before the night was over Marluxia was going to take quite a few of them himself, completely losing Roxas… at least for a time.

Meanwhile back in Midgar, Izumi and Nanashi were hard at work sending out the APBs, reading files and watching tapes and drawing conclusions, and in Izumi's case downing dangerous levels of coffee. Before the morning was over they would have covered a considerable amount of the continent, though a few areas wouldn't receive the news for a couple of days yet… at this point all Izumi could do was send it off with a kiss and a prayer. When she finally fell asleep over her desk, ink smudging onto her face and Nanashi lost to sleep at her back at least an hour before, she dreamed of finding a young blond boy- and of a tall, brown haired man with bright violet eyes- the Mako eyes of a SOLDIER. Had one listened closely they would have heard 'Hiroshi' several times.

Axel dreamed too- dreamed of stopping to rest, though he was thinking like Roxas and knew that wouldn't happen. He dreamed of apologies, of dinner dates… And had he not been speeding past, if one had listened over the roar of engines, one could have heard 'I'm coming, Roxy, so wait for me' several times.


	3. Chapter 3

Title: Cat's Cradle

Summary: (AU-ish: keeps details from the game but mixes them with FFVII and a healthy dose of my own little mental universe- will have many descriptions, for clarity.) One wouldn't expect Axel to be a Turk. Then again, one wouldn't expect Roxas to be on the run for something he didn't do. But since when has anything been normal?

Rating: M

Warnings: The general shit. No citrus forseen. (Note: 'general shit' entails violence, language, possible mentions of nudity… and a meddling female OC not unlike Sakura.)

BGM: None

Comments: Sorry for the late updates! See, here's the story: Wednesday (yanno, the day I usually update?) there was a Student Organizations fair at my college. I was helping out with the Anime Club booth for said fair, and I brought my Kingdom Hearts Chain of Memories vol. 1 and KHII vol.2 so I could work on the pictures for the chapters to be released this week... long story short, I lent them to the table while I had classes, and came back to find out that a friend of mine had borrowed them. It was cool, I had said she could, but I hadn't counted on not finishing the pics that day. (They're done, actually, so if you want to check them out, check out my Deviant Art site and the chapters on there.) Then when I put more thought into it, I had been starting to stress myself out with the Wednesday release schedule since Monday, Wednesday, and Friday are my really packed days. So from now on, expect new chapters on Fridays or Saturdays, since it'll be easier for me to release stuff up at Anime Club or when I'm babysitting on Saturday nights. Finally, in this chapter, please excuse the two OCs… the second shouldn't be mentioned much.

Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts. Which is a fact that I am glad for, because that means I don't have Xemnas trying to find me and force me to give him the rights to it. You can have that one, Nomura-sama, he's all yours. (My brain deserts me when I'm awake at six in the blinking morning.)

* * *

Shot III: A hidden past, a broken recollection

* * *

The ringing of the phone brought Izumi to her senses. She lifted her head up, stared around the room, removed the sheet of paper that had stuck to her face in her nap, and pulled her cell phone out of her pocket. With a yawn, she answered.

"'Ello, Izumi here."

"Working hard or hardly working?"

"Axel, no fucking jokes, please. I can't work on no sleep, and with the case I just finished up yesterday I have been. Tailing that bastard ended my influence in it."

"And Shinra will thank you greatly, I'm sure. How goes the APBs?"

"Signed, sealed and delivered." Izumi grinned, leaning back and wincing as the chair under her squealed. Nanashi looked up at her, but a smile settled him back down. "How goes the Roxas hunt?"

"Well, an officer in Coliseum says he saw the plate number go by last night, but he had no reason to stop him… the APB didn't get opened until this morning." Izumi growled at this revelation and hit the desk in front of her.

"God, I HATE those backwater, good-ol-boy run joints! They never get SHIT done right! I thought police stations were open 24-7-365."

"Apparently the officer who was supposed to be in charge last night didn't show up- they said he was ill. The switchboard operator came in, but she didn't have the clearance required to open the email."

"I'll give her clearance- I'll clear her sinuses with as far as my foot will go up her…"

"Izumi, no use getting pissed about it now. I called the next three towns over- I made them open the mail right then, they're on the lookout. Besides, it's pretty well a straight shot, no real sideroads the kid would know about. So just settle. You probably took your dog with you last night, right? No sense getting stressed, he'll know it. Hey. When I get back, bring him in again. I like dogs. Just never could get one because of the job."

"They're dead useful." Izumi said calmly, taking deep breaths to settle down. "Good companions, no one thinks anything of a kid walking a dog… and you can train 'em to take down suspects. Old Nanashi here helped me out like that a few times… and he's still a baby, virtually." Okay, not so much a baby, Nanashi was about two and a half, but to Izumi, that was still baby. "Hey, yanno they say the average time to make or break a habit is 21 days… I wonder if that would be 21 repetitions for a word or name…"

"What are you talking about, Izumi?" Axel asked, confused as all hell.

"That makes five. 16 to go." She said cryptically before hanging up. "We'll see if he remembers my name again the next time he calls, eh, Nanashi?" she laughed to the dog, now sitting at attention by her feet.

"You brought the puppy?" Violet eyes shot up to meet bright Mako blues and a smile.

"R-Reno… sir!" Izumi declared, standing up. Reno wasn't much older than her, so this display annoyed him a little.

"Izumi, we're the same rank. We are almost the same age. You don't have to 'sir' me. Hey, boy." He smiled as Nanashi loped over and stood on him, paws on the lapels of his coat. "Sorry, no treats, didn't know your lady friend was bringing you in today."

"To be honest, I didn't know I was bringing him in up until about midnight last night, si-… Reno." Izumi admitted. "I don't go out at night without him, actually. I figure anyone thinking I'm an easy target will see Commodore Fluff-n-Stuff here and freak out."

"So, I'm guessing you fell asleep over your desk, then?"

"Afraid so." Izumi admitted hesitantly. Reno just took a step closer, tilted the girl's face one way, and nodded.

"Yep, just what I thought." He nodded. "Ink stains." With the bottle of water from the desk (she really wasn't sure when she'd gotten that, but it had to have been the night before to wash down the coffee she was drinking) and a tissue from a box on a nearby desk (probably Johnson's, she mused, seeing as how the man had the beginnings of a cold the last time she saw him), he cleaned the ink off her face. "There you go, kid. Clean faced and ready to take on the world- or at least Shinra himself. You don't even look like you slept here."

Reno, at 24, was about four years older than Izumi- the girl was, with the exception of the new recruits, the youngest Turk there, and definitely the youngest of her rank- and had appointed himself the girl's older brother. He was no replacement for Hiroshi, but she liked him well enough. All she could figure was that he'd gotten a hold of her file somehow, read the bit about the brother killed in SOLDIER when she was just about 16, and taken it upon himself to be her big brother. And out of all the other Turks there, she knew she could count on him.

"Hey, I bet you haven't eaten anything since yesterday." Reno nodded.

"Just coffee… sludge really, I guess I did the interns a favor by drinking some of that radioactive slop left over from the day." Izumi muttered dryly.

"Then it's my duty to get some food in your stomach. And they're serving bacon and eggs in that cafeteria down the street."

"Wow, heart attack waiting to happen," Izumi laughed, but he knew she'd agree. After all, it was pretty much her favorite breakfast. And with all the water she drank and how strict she was about her diet, her cholesterol levels would practically be nil when she died, as far as anyone saw. "Do they allow dogs?" she asked- she rarely went there, and never with Nanashi.

"We're Turks, kid. If we say they allow dogs, they allow dogs."

"Right. I'll pull the blind act." Izumi laughed, knowing she would do no such thing.

--

"Damn it… she had to have gone through here, just had to have…" Roxas sighed, head in his hands as he sat in the park. The officers in this town (called 'Neverwas', oddly enough) said that they hadn't had any suspicious cars or plates with Larxene's number come through ever. He was starting to despair of ever finding her, really… and it was only the second day of his search.

As Roxas was bemoaning his fate and life in general, something gently thwacked him on top of the head. As he looked up, he absolutely expected to find Axel standing there, handcuffs out and telling him he was under arrest.

Instead, a young raven haired girl was standing in front of him, smiling and holding out a sandwich. "Here. You really look like you could use some food," she smiled.

"T-thank you…" Roxas said, staring at the sandwich in mild confusion.

"My name is Fiona. What's yours?"

"It's Roxas…" he smiled back. She looked like was going to sit down and chat with him, but just then someone yelled out.

"Fiona! Come on, it's time to go!" She sighed, bright green eyes sad, and grinned back at Roxas.

"Sorry… my uncle Vexen calling me. We stopped here to visit some family, but we're headed back to Midgar this afternoon."

"That's my hometown!" Roxas blurted out. Now she really was smiling again. "Uhm… yeah… if you want to look up Strife in the phonebook… I think there's only one entry… but if you wanna talk, you can call there."

"I'd like that." She smiled, before the voice called out again.

"FIONA!"

"Coming, uncle!" she called back. "Sorry… gotta go. It was nice meeting you, Roxas." She smiled and ran off.

"You… too…" he said as he watched her leave.

--

"Fiona, where were you?" Vexen sighed. Honestly, he didn't have time for this. Hojo would have his guts on a plate if he were back one second late, and that cloning experiment of his was something he couldn't afford to miss much time on.

"I was talking, Uncle Vexen… there was a guy I think is an upperclassman in my school here."

"Well, let's go. Larxene just wanted money, as usual… honestly, how much does she think Shinra pays me, anyway?" Vexen sighed. Fiona looked over at him in confusion.

"When does Cousin Larxene not want money? I hate to be mean about it… but something's off about her. Her and her boyfriend… they were in a real hurry, and she was meaner than usual."

"I know, Fiona. Let it go. She didn't get much, at any rate, just gas money as it stands. She can be mad but in the end all that matters is that your aunt knows about this. Let's go home." Vexen sighed.

--

Axel had been hunting through Neverwas (who the hell came up with that name anyhow, he wondered), looking all over for the small car that Roxas was driving. As he was heading to the park, a familiar face caught his eye… one of the men from the Shinra Science division… what was his name again?

"Axel." Ah, right, he knew that voice, the name returned to him.

"Vexen. What brings you and…Fiona? Wow, aren't you two a little far from Shinra?"

"We came to visit family, but the trip was… unfruitful." Vexen scowled (but really, when was he not scowling?). "But Fiona got a chance to get out more, and that's better than a lot of people can say."

"Ouch, you wound me." Axel replied sarcastically. Really, there was no love lost between the two; Axel disliked that Vexen didn't see that Hojo had no control over him anymore and Vexen just disliked the Turks- period. According to him, the Turks were the ones who had killed Fiona's mother and drove her father insane. The scientist was really no relation to the girl, but he had worked with her mother, and she had stipulated in her will that if anyone got her daughter (only five at the time) in the event of her death and her husband being unable to care for her, that it was Vexen… not even her own sister could have custody, and her sister had a daughter of her own. When they had finally figured out that something was wrong in the household, Fiona had been out of school three weeks, locked in her room to hide herself from her insane father, barely eating, only leaving when she heard him fall asleep. The poor girl had been so mentally scarred from that…

In reality, the Turks were not responsible. The Turks couldn't have been any less responsible if they had tried, but since at the time Fiona's mother had been working on a new project that would benefit the Turks, Vexen counted them responsible. Really, it was wrong to blame them- it had been raining hard and a man was trying to cross the street, he didn't see the car and before anyone knew it, she'd been sideswiped by a car trying to dodge him. The car cleared the ditch and proceeded to bury itself in a tree. Fiona's mother died instantly. Fiona held no ill will to the group- she could often be found down there talking to them, especially when Izumi brought the dog.

"Is Miss Izumi with you, Mister Axel?" the girl asked. At thirteen, she was still very polite, almost childlike.

"Nope, afraid not. I'm searching for someone, though… maybe I should have had her bring the pup." Axel mused. Vexen was growing bored with this.

"What are you talking about, Axel? Who are you tracking?"

"A kid, about 18 years old. Blond hair, blue eyes, name of Roxas Hikaru." Fiona's eyes widened, and the two men noticed. "Fiona… what are you trying to hide?"

"N-nothing…" she tried. Axel wasn't buying it.

"He's here, isn't he? Fiona, come on. I'm not here to hurt him, I have a couple of questions for him. I give you my word."

"Oh, great, the word of a Turk, that's a laugh." Vexen scoffed. Fiona cut her uncle a look, then looked back to Axel.

"Yes… I gave him a sandwich, he looked hungry… There he is now! Roxas!" Fiona called, breaking off from her uncle to go talk to Roxas again.

"Fiona! Thanks for the sandwich, it was really good." He smiled, blushing a little as she grabbed his hand.

"You're welcome, but that's not why I'm here. You gotta come with me and talk to my uncle and one of his coworkers!" she giggled. Roxas blushed again, and grinned.

"That's a nice thought, but… I kinda need to get on the road again… I think I'm gonna visit some family in Nibelheim for a while… but tell you what! I'll give you my number and you can call any time!" Fiona looked sad but she was willing to take him up on that. Axel really seemed to want to talk to him… any bit helped. So she traded numbers with him and let him go. As she ran back up to the men, both looked shocked.

"Fiona! You let him go!" Axel sighed.

"Nu-uh! I got his number. It's more than you had before, right? Plus if I call him you can get a fix by the cell towers, right?" Vexen had taught this child well, and Axel nodded his thanks in his direction. "Besides, he told me he was going to Nibelheim for a bit to visit family."

"Fiona… you are one hell of a smart kid." Axel laughed, ruffling the raven locks. Vexen nodded at her, a small smile on his face, and for some reason that made the girl happier than she had been in a while. "Well, nice seeing you guys. Hey, Fiona, I think Izumi has Nanashi with her when you guys get back."

"Yay! Nanashi!" Fiona clapped. Vexen sighed.

"In the meantime, I better get going. See you two when I get back!" Axel laughed as he headed for the bike. Fiona stared off after him, green eyes sparkling.

"He's not coming back without Roxas, is he, Uncle?" she asked.

"It's not his style to leave a job unfinished. That's a Turk for you." Vexen sighed, and ushered his niece back to the car.

--

"'Ello, Izumi here." It was lunchtime now, and Izumi was in the cafeteria down the street, again eating with Reno, who had decided to help on the case.

"Izumi! Hey, I'll get to fulfill your favor early! Seems Roxy's going to Nibelheim, so if you have contacts there that can hold him, I'd love you forever." Axel's voice filtered over the phone. Izumi laughed happily, a smile on her face- Reno was stunned; she didn't smile that much for anyone. She either had a plan or his brother had just said something absolutely amazing or awesomely funny.

"Man, I don't just have contacts there. I've got family. And he's about his age too, I think they'd get along great. I'll call him."

"Izumi, you are a miracle worker."

"No, just a person with a scattered family. Oh, and that makes seven. 14 to go." With that she hung up the phone.

"Huh? What's that last part about?" Reno asked.

"Oh, just a little experiment with the memory. They say it takes 21 days to make or break a habit, so I have to wonder- does it take 21 repetitions to make someone remember a name?" Violet eyes shone brightly, and it wasn't just the Mako there. "I gotta make a call, forgive me."

"Hey, work is work. I'm not telling." Reno laughed, and went back to eating.

--

"Demyx? Demyx! DEMYX!" A dirty-blond haired boy popped out from under the house. "Do I even want to know what you were doing under there?"

"I was fixing that pipe, Zexy!" Demyx smiled to the periwinkle-haired, emo-looking boy who was standing on the porch. As he swiped at dirt on his face, he went on. "It's been leaking for a week, and I figured today was as good a day as any to fix it."

"Dare I ask, how?" Zexion sighed. Sometimes the boy was so insane… he wouldn't have put it past him to try jamming peanut butter in the cracked pipe to stop it.

"I got some of this tape… it'll do until the plumber gets here Friday."

"I wouldn't think this many people would have issues…"

"That hotel the next town over sorta had a massive breakdown, according to the guy that runs the plumbing company. It's gonna take until Wednesday to get it under control, according to him." Demyx gave up on the dirt, and just smiled to Zexion. "Can I get a hug?"

"After you shower, why not?" Zexion sighed, but it was a smiling sigh, and Demyx knew it was all joking. Suddenly, a loud ringtone went off from under the house, and Demyx reached in his pocket, then around him, finally unearthing an ocean blue cell phone. Zexion wondered who it was- the sound of a piano and a harp, the song being "Always on my Mind"… it wasn't familiar. Demyx obviously knew who it was, though.

"Hey! Hold on, Zexion's here, I'll put it on speaker!" he grinned and did so. "Okay, talk to me."

"Demyx, do you know how much I hate speaker?" the tinny soprano… it was Izumi, Demyx's cousin in Midgar. "How are you two, by the way?"

"I'm good! Just patched up the pipe under the house that was busted!"

"You patched up the pipe?" Izumi said in shock that carried over the miles perfectly.

"We'll see when he showers and gets all the dirt off." Zexion laughed. "How have you been?"

"Busy." The sigh came over as static. "Hey, guys, I need you two to be on the lookout for someone for me."

"Who, Izumi?" Demyx smiled as he finally decided to stop sitting under the house.

"Short blond, blue eyed boy. Name of Roxas. I'll send a picture when I get back to the office, but don't expect him to be there until tomorrow at the earliest. He just left Neverwas at a little after noon today. I've got a coworker coming to get him."

"What'd he do?" both boys asked. They knew the girl's job quite well.

"It's what he didn't do really. We need his help catching the actual perp. He knows her well- not that well, Demyx, I know what you're thinking."

"Actually this time it was Zexion." Demyx grinned when he saw the look on the other's face. "All right, send the details as fast as possible, we'll keep him here. Oh, and we said hi to Hiroshi the other day…" Demyx wasn't smiling anymore- it was a sad task but one he carried out for his cousin regularly.

"Hiroshi's going to be feeling the love- my coworker's gonna give him a holler too… ah, hell, I've got time off coming to me, if you can manage to keep Roxas and Axel both there for a couple of days, I'll be there."

"Ooh! Are you bringing the puppy?" Demyx asked.

"Nanashi will be coming with me." Izumi laughed.

"Right. We'll keep them." Zexion said, smiling too. He couldn't help it; when Demyx smiled it was contagious.

"I appreciate it. Look, I gotta get going, I'm on lunch and I need to finish so I can get back to work. I'll see you guys soon."

"Bye, Izumi." Both said, though Demyx was a little more enthusiastic about it.

"Well, we better get ready for this." Demyx sighed. Zexion nodded and the two went inside to plot and wait for Izumi's email.


	4. Chapter 4

Title: Cat's Cradle

Summary: (AU-ish: keeps details from the game but mixes them with FFVII and a healthy dose of my own little mental universe- will have many descriptions, for clarity.) One wouldn't expect Axel to be a Turk. Then again, one wouldn't expect Roxas to be on the run for something he didn't do. But since when has anything been normal?

Rating: M

Warnings: The general shit. No citrus forseen. (Note: 'general shit' entails violence, language, possible mentions of nudity… and a meddling female OC not unlike Sakura.)

BGM: None

Comments: Random idea that smacked me upside the head. Enjoy. In this chapter, _italics_ means past action. Seriously, it'll be useful. And Axel's last name same as Reno's voice actor's last name. I couldn't find a better one. Okay... by the way, the reason this didn't update for a while is simple: I was sick. It'd be no excuse IF I wasn't trying to draw an illustration for every chapter. I didn't even feel like drawing these past couple of weeks. So yeah, I didn't update because I was sick as hell. Sorry. I'll try better next time. -bows-

Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts. Which is a fact that I am glad for, because that means I don't have Xemnas trying to find me and force me to give him the rights to it. You can have that one, Nomura-sama, he's all yours. (My brain deserts me when I'm awake at six in the blinking morning.)

* * *

Shot IV: A clever diversion, a captive audience

* * *

"Not in this town either… that Larxene…" Roxas sighed, sitting on the edge of a fountain in the square in Nibelheim. Suddenly, a hand rested on his shoulder. Startled, Roxas looked straight into the bright blue eyes of a blond boy with a mullet-hawk and skater clothing, and an emo looking guy with periwinkle hair and dark clothing behind him.

"You say Larxene? I know her- she's dating my friend." The blond smiled. "Name's Demyx, the guy with the bangs is Zexion- who are you?"

"Roxas Hikaru. Uhm… nice to meet you, I think… do you have any idea where she might be?" Roxas asked. Demyx made a show of thinking, then nodded.

"She's not here right now, but she said she was going to come back within the next day or two- you should totally wait at my house!"

"Demyx!" Zexion hissed, seeming irritated. The blond shushed the other, and smiled even brighter.

"Don't worry, I'm sure Roxas here won't care!"

"Won't care about what?" Roxas asked confused.

"That I'm dating this fine guy here! And believe me," Demyx said in a stage whisper, "it took me long enough to get him to agree to even one little bitty teensy weensy date."

"That's not the reason, Demyx, and you know it. Sheesh… I think anyone and their brother could tell we're together. I mean your little patch job on the shower." Zexion sighed, a faint blush coloring his cheeks.

"Oh, that? Sheesh, it's worked so far, hasn't it? And the plumber's are coming Friday! So who cares? And I told you, I asked my cousin when I called her the other day at work, she looked it up for me! I knew just what to get and how to fix it until the plumbers get here!"

"Then why did she seem confused when you said you fixed it?"

"Oh… maybe that was her coworker instead…" Demyx said, confused for all of one second before he regained his normal bubbly composure. "So how about it? I promise, Zexion's just good at making things sound much worse than they are."

"Uhm… sure… but you'll have to give me directions. My car's parked by a bank…" Roxas said.

"I'll have Zexy ride with you! He practically lives with me anyway!"

"I wonder why…" twin voices intoned- Zexion and Roxas. The two looked at each other in shock over the unintended stereo, and each began to think they might get along better than expected. True to his word, Demyx had Zexion ride with Roxas in case they got separated, and they got to the house in no time.

"Uhm… do you mind if I use your shower? I've been driving about three or four days straight…" Roxas said in embarrassment. Demyx laughed easily and showed him where it was.

"Hey, if you need a nap or something after that, the room just across the hall is where I'm going to set your stuff!" the blond called through the closed door. Shortly after the water started running (with a distinct clunk and a smell of plastic and dirt that made Zexion really wish that the plumber would get one of his helpers back before Friday), the doorbell rang. Without a word more, Demyx ushered in a road-weary redhead and showed him to a room a little ways away from Roxas's own.

"I'd have been here earlier, but I had a favor to fulfill for someone…"

"Just stay quiet, okay? He said he's been driving for a while, Axel-san…" Demyx cautioned.

"Just Axel, and I may follow him up on that. Considering I've done about the same thing… with stops where I could shower… why do I smell plastic?"

"Demyx tried to patch the pipe himself, I think the tape's melting." Zexion sighed over his book.

"Hush! I did just fine!"

"Oh… so you're the guy my brother talked to the other day. Izumi's cousin?"

"That would be me." Demyx grinned. Axel nodded and headed to his room, dead tired after three and a half days on the road.

--

_"Izumi, where you headed?" Reno asked as he was headed back to his apartment with his mail. Izumi had Nanashi in his harness, leashed and a suitcase in her hands, a casual outfit on. He had to stop and stare- he'd never seen the girl not in her Turk uniform; the floaty skirt, casual tank top, and lightweight denim jacket was a strange sight, much less the huge sunglasses on her face, the black glasses almost too dark for her oceanic color scheme. "Wait, hold it," he asked, and pulled out his cell phone to snap a picture. "Okay, now, where are you headed?"_

_"That was scary, Reno." She said calmly. "And I'm going to help Axel reign in Roxy-boy." _

_"Right. You're going to see your cousin too, aren't you?"_

_"And my brother's grave, but that's neither here nor there." Izumi waved it off easily. Reno had to laugh at her careless hand motion._

_"Well, tell my brother I said hi, if you don't mind. I'll hold down the fort here." He sighed, getting a surprise hug from Izumi. "Huh?"_

_"Just felt like it. See you when I see you, Reno!" she said and left. For about five minutes after the girl's little black sports car took off, he still stood there in shock. Finally he laughed and returned to his apartment. _

_"Guess she's loosening up a bit." _

--

Roxas had been asleep for several hours and would likely be out for several more, Axel was awake and eating lunch with the other two occupants of the house. Nibelheim wasn't huge, it hadn't taken Roxas long to search, but it had been tiring. Now, you'd think this would be the worst time for him to wake up and see his worst enemy, right?

Well, bad timing is the specialty of a vengeful god with a twisted sense of humor.

"What the hell!? What are you doing here?!" Roxas shrieked as he saw Axel.

"Eating, what else? You should really try this stir-fry, good stuff." The redhead patted a chair near him.

"You! I'm gone!" Roxas yelled.

"Oh? How, pray tell, when I have…" Axel smiled as he held up a small silver keyring, "…this?"

"Sorry, Roxas… I had to." Demyx apologized. Roxas put two and two together then.

"You were in on it!" Roxas glared angrily. Demyx nodded, staring at the table.

"I already knew who you were when I met you… but Axel filled in a lot of blanks for me, and I think you're being really unfair to him, not listening to his side of the story and just knocking him out like that then dumping him on the front lawn!" Demyx said.

"Okay, in my defense, my cousin helped and the lawn was his idea, though originally he put you behind the car." Roxas sighed.

"Splitting hairs, Roxas. If you'll let me talk…" Axel said, getting up from his chair. Zexion sighed and took a drink.

"I'd let him, Roxas. He's been wailing about how unfair it is and how he just wants to talk."

"Fine! I give up. Murphy wins this one." Roxas threw his hands up in defeat, and suddenly found himself ushered to the living room by the redhead. "Wha-?"

"I've already bored them enough practicing it, I think one more time they'd have killed me. Look, Roxas- I looked over the security footage again the night you left, and talked to a few people. No one thinks there's any way in hell you could have done it, and I should know- I've got at least two that will back me up. For one, you're shorter than Larxene, and another, her hair is longer. Not by much but it's still longer. Plus she took off and carried only things that would have records of a plan with her, her laptop and cell phone, things like that, you know?"

"Yeah. She was always good about keeping that computer under lock and key." Roxas remembered, nodding.

"So you proved it yourself- no way could you be the thief, unless you are one hell of an actor and Larxene's some kind of moron." Axel grinned. "And looking at her scores, no way is that happening. So I just wanted to apologize, get a fresh start." To Roxas's surprise, the redhead extended a hand and grinned even wider, if it was possible. "Axel Fujiwara, nice to meet you."

"Roxas Hikaru." The blond said, and accepted the hand, surprised as hell when Axel pulled him into a hug.

"Your cooperation with the Turks would be appreciated- if you can help us find Larxene, that is."

"Why wouldn't I be able to?" Roxas said, rolling his eyes and squirming away to go eat. "In the meantime, I'm getting food."

--

_"Come on, Nanashi, as is we won't get there until tomorrow afternoon, and that's taking every shortcut I know of!" Izumi fretted as the dog sniffed around for a suitable tree. A man came charging up the road, glaring and holding a shotgun._

_"Hey! You get your dog off my property!" _

_"He's gotta pee, dude, I figure here is as good a place as any. And by that I mean he won't piss on my leather seats because I've trained him not to. And I won't have my boy dying of urmeic poisoning." Izumi's voice was still warm, friendly. The guy didn't take the hint to back off, continuing to wave the shotgun around and yell about how she needed to get the dog off his property. Finally Izumi could take no more, and she pulled out some of her wire. She wished she hadn't left the sword in the back of the car but she hadn't thought she'd need it. With a quick throw and a quicker pull, the long barrel of the shotgun suddenly lost about a foot and a half, the metal clattering to the ground as the man stared in disbelief. _

_"Now listen here, dude, you don't own this road. I'm with the Turks and I make a habit of checking the maps to see if any property has changed hands within the last couple of months before I set out anywhere, and this road isn't on your property line. So you want to shut the fuck up and let my dog do his business or do you want to be staring up at your own decapitated body?" The man chose discretion as the better part of valor, and ran. By the time he was suitably out of Izumi's sight, Nanashi had done his business and was whining to get back to the car. When she got there, the phone was ringing. "'Ello, Izumi here." _

_"Scaring the natives?" Reno laughed. _

_"And letting Nanashi pee. Smart boy, doesn't wanna mess up my leather seats." She grinned with pride. "Look, I'm going to be in Nibelheim in maybe a half a day at least, I'll call when I hit my cousin's house, all right? I should be back within a week, less should Roxas be easier to convince." _

_"I can accept that." Reno could almost be heard grinning- hey, he had to make sure the girl was going to be all right, she was almost like the little sister of the entire division… well, except to Elena, but that was just her style. That and Elena didn't like the air of secrecy the girl kept any more than Izumi liked Elena's way of divulging too much information for the Turk's good, even if it was an accident. "But you know… you don't have to be. I know how you've been stashing your time off- you've got at least a month of downtime coming to you, and I'm willing to bet old Rufus would give you more. Why don't you visit home?"_

_"Because home is depressing- I don't really want to face my aunt and uncle, they hate the military and anything connected to it. Unfortunately, that includes the Turks. After my brother… well, you understand." Izumi's voice didn't have that buoyant tone to it anymore, and she sure as hell wasn't smiling. "Now you see why my cousin moved off. Speaking of…"_

_"Oh boy…" Reno muttered, then growled 'it's not funny, quit laughing, Rude!' to the other man, even though Izumi couldn't hear anything. _

_"Did you answer my phone the other day, when I took that break to hit home for a minute to let Nanashi out?" _

_"Er…"_

_"Because I'm not mad if you did. I just want to know how the hell you know enough about plumbing to tell my little cousin how to patch up a cracked pipe until a pro can get at it." Izumi smiled as she leaned back against the seat. Now she could hear Reno almost smiling again._

_"That's what the internet is good for- everything is on there… literally."_

_"Don't I know it. Try searching Mako reactors. I guarantee you'll find plans for one." _

_"When did you-?"_

_"Middle school, science fair project. Gotta run." Izumi smiled._

_"Be careful, kid." Reno said before she hung up. Nanashi barked once, a booming sound, and Izumi laughed._

_"Let's hit it, Nanashi!" _

_--_

The next day saw the four sitting around. Roxas didn't want to get a move on just yet, Axel said he had a friend coming, and Demyx liked the company. Zexion just sat there, reading calmly, while Roxas and Axel watched some old sitcom and Demyx paced, stopping occasionally to look out the window.

"Demyx, settle down. She'll get here when she gets here." Zexion sighed finally.

"You're expecting someone too?" Roxas asked. Demyx opened his mouth to answer, but the crunching of gravel stopped him.

"She's here!" he cried in glee and ran outside. "And she brought puppy too!" Axel could have sworn he saw Zexion's eye twitch at the puppy remark, but he kept quiet about it. A small girl sat in the driver's seat of a sleek black sports car, tan leather upholstery gleaming in the sun- either it was new or she took great care of it. The huge black sunglasses on her face lifted and she squinted brilliantly violet eyes in the sun, getting out and closing the door behind her. A large mixed-breed dog sat on the seat beside her, wriggling and squirming to get out. She let the dog out before anything else, then turned to the group and put her hands on her hips.

"Hey, Demmy, don't I get a hug or something? Sheesh, you'd think you could notice your cousin before you notice her dog!"

"Mi-mi!" he laughed, and tackled the girl, pouting a bit when she just absorbed the shock. "Aw, man, Izumi, you're no fun- I can't bowl you over anymore."

"Training, my man." She grinned, hugging the boy back. Axel was gaping, Roxas noticed.

"They're relatives," he justified.

"She's my coworker." Axel said. Now it was Roxas's turn to gape. That little slip of a girl, who looked like she should be in the mall at Abercrombie or something, was a Turk?! "You should see her in the uniform- she looks like a well-dressed emo." Apparently he hadn't been as quiet with that thought as he had, well, thought. Izumi looked up and held out another arm.

"Zexion."

"Yes?" the quiet boy asked. He'd been hanging back on the porch.

"You know, you're dating my Demmy. You can have a hug too. And even if you weren't you could still have a hug!" she laughed. Demyx smiled and motioned Zexion over, finally getting him to come within a foot of the two cousins. Demyx just smiled and pulled Zexion closer, close enough that Izumi could grab him for a hug. Axel and Roxas were just confused now, but the group hug was too great a shot to pass up- Axel pulled out his cell phone and snapped a picture.

"Heh. Reno better love me for this." He grinned evilly. The clack hadn't escaped Izumi, though.

"You send that, Axel Fujiwara, and I swear to Gaea, I will make your existence a living hell."

"Sheesh, yes, ma'am." Axel pouted before something nudged the back of his legs. "Whoa! Puppy!" he laughed, letting the dog press it's paws against his jacket. Roxas suddenly felt very much left out of the love-party. Suddenly, Demyx appeared, and pulled Roxas over to his cousin.

"You can has hug too!" he cried, and before Roxas could even ask himself if that statement had even been attempting to be grammatically correct, he was swept into the mad group hug. Even Zexion looked calm now- and that was a feat, considering he looked alone when the hug had him at first. By now Axel appeared.

"Is this a private party, or can I join in too?" he grinned. Izumi rolled her eyes and, had her arms not been taken up with teenage boys, she would have put her hands on her hips.

"You're a consenting adult, you tell me." She quipped, and suddenly the group hug gained another person and a dog trying to squeeze into the middle. Roxas was very aware that Axel was right behind him- the scent of his cologne was pretty strong. Finally the group broke apart, with Izumi flipping her sunglasses back down.

"Damn! Forgot how bright the sun could get! Let's move this get together inside!" she laughed as she hit her keys and popped the trunk. Another button closed the top of the car, and still another armed the alarm after she had gotten her bags out. Roxas was still confused though.

"Who the hell…"

"Congratulations. You just survived a happy Izumi." Zexion said calmly as he walked inside.

"That, my dear Roxas, was my coworker and apparently Demyx's cousin, Izumi. Though she's usually more emo than this…" Axel noted as they headed inside. Roxas just sighed and shook his head.

If the Turks were this mercurial, he could see why his cousin Cloud didn't like them.


	5. Chapter 5

Title: Cat's Cradle

Summary: (AU-ish: keeps details from the game but mixes them with FFVII and a healthy dose of my own little mental universe- will have many descriptions, for clarity.) One wouldn't expect Axel to be a Turk. Then again, one wouldn't expect Roxas to be on the run for something he didn't do. But since when has anything been normal?

Rating: M

Warnings: The general shit. No citrus forseen. (Note: 'general shit' entails violence, language, possible mentions of nudity… and a meddling female OC not unlike Sakura.)

BGM: None

Comments: Random idea that smacked me upside the head. Enjoy. In this chapter, _italics_ means past action. _Italic underline_ is thought. Seriously, it'll be useful. And Axel's last name= same as Reno's voice actor's last name. I couldn't find a better one. ^_^; -UPDATED COMMENTS: Damn, how long has it been since I updated this story? I donno if anyone even cares anymore... XD At any rate, I apologize for the delay. My computer had a fit earlier this year (as anyone who read Smooth may know, I forget what I wrote there...), then there was the general hilarity of classes (Victorian literature, yikes...) and finals, coupled with a bunch of crap I don't want to think of. But I figure this: if this fic sucks, well, a couple of bad stories under my belt won't kill me. Then again, I'm of the ilk that thinks just about everything she writes is utter crap. And if there's anyone who gives a damn about this story, well, I have an obligation to finish posting it. So expect updates pretty frequently now.

Also, not that anyone cares really, but here's some random trivia/reason to get back on this: Nanashi had a real-life basis in a chow-shepherd mix my grandparents found three years ago or so. His name was Floyd. Monday night, after getting sick from eating something laced with poison, I don't know how he got it or what it is precisely, and after looking like he was getting better, he suddenly died. My grandmother went to feed him, and 40 minutes later my uncle came in and hollered that Floyd was dying. Before my grandmother could get to him, he'd died. Floyd, while not as well trained as Nanashi is, was just as intelligent. So call me getting back on this a memorial to the real-life Nanashi.

Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts. Which is a fact that I am glad for, because that means I don't have Xemnas trying to find me and force me to give him the rights to it. You can have that one, Nomura-sama, he's all yours. (My brain deserts me when I'm awake at six in the blinking morning.)

* * *

Shot V: Memorial, a pain that stretches across time

It was morning. That was about all Roxas was able to notice. He'd woken up way earlier than usual, and rather than wake someone else up to make coffee, he just decided to sit in the kitchen. After a short while, Izumi entered, letting Nanashi (she had told him the dog's name after Demyx called it puppy for the millionth time) outside, then started making coffee. He wasn't sure she'd seen him until she asked, "do you want anything in your coffee?"

"Huh? Nah… no thanks." Roxas yawned. "What has you awake so early, Izumi-san?"

"I have an errand of my own to run, so as soon as I get Nanashi inside, I'm going to head out. And please… it's just Izumi." She said, not smiling. "Hm… your cousin… Cloud Strife, yes?"

"Yes."

"You can come along. I think you might want to hear this story." Izumi nodded. "After all, your cousin was involved, if only a little."

What could Roxas say? He wasn't about to pass up a chance to learn more about Cloud's past. No one told him or Sora anything, and Namine was inclined to agree with their cousin and his friend Tifa- the past was past and there was no use dragging it up again. "Thanks."

--

The two were in front of the destroyed Mako reactor in the Nibel Mountains. Roxas was officially confused, then Izumi started to speak. It was quiet, but somehow Roxas heard it all.

"You know what this place is. Hell, every elementary student with a history class knows what this place is. Your cousin… and the general Sephiroth… they fought here. Sephiroth didn't escape unscathed, but your cousin got the worst of it. Him, a first-class SOLDIER named Zack Fair, and a civilian woman, their guide to the place. It was… brutal. And even that's an understatement." The woman shuddered softly as she brushed her fingers over a piece of rubble, an old door that still had lingering traces of Mako on it.

"But what they… what Shinra… did to innocents in the name of science… was absolutely, utterly, and unequivocally wrong. There is no justification, no matter how Hojo tries to think of one. And believe me, every time someone uncovers it, there's a new excuse and a new person for the Turks to… well, I won't lie to you, Roxas, you're a smart kid and a euphemism for my job would be an insult to you. Every person who finds out is a liability for Shinra- if he can't buy them into forgetfulness, as a Turk I'm obligated to assassinate them. But you- I trust you, and maybe you deserve to know more about your world than the history books tell you. That's why I gave you names, not just 'anonymous first-class SOLDIER, a new SOLDIER recruit, and a civilian guide'.

"But that's not even why I'm here. Yes, the Nibelheim tragedy was horrible- lives were lost, and even this town for quite some time. But like a phoenix, it rose from the ashes." She laughed once, humorlessly. "Listen to me, waxing inspirational. This is one place the locals won't touch, the only ones who come here are people like me… who lost someone they were closer to than anyone else in the world." Violet eyes turned away, and Roxas could see the tears roll down her face.

"What happened?" he asked softly. A shudder ripped through Izumi's body before she continued.

"Sephiroth was suffering delusions… he had read something that rather… misinformed him, according to a close source. He believed the planet-eating Jenova was his mother… not that poor woman who really did birth him… out of some unholy union between her and that… that rat bastard Hojo… Sephiroth was a human experiment from the time of his conception, injected with Jenova cells in the very womb. He truly believed Jenova to be his mother- when he found her and saw what Shinra was doing, he went mad. Damn near killed everyone there, even his companions, and went on to try to murder the general populace of Nibelheim. Your cousin… that brave soul… he was one of the ones to bring Sephiroth back to a semblance of sanity. We're keeping an eye on Sephiroth, but your cousin we mercifully lost track of.

"Sephiroth was a bringer of vengeance against Shinra… but he killed some who had no idea of the treachery of the machine… my brother was one of them." Izumi collapsed to the dirt, eyes staring ahead and tears rolling down her face. The red dust was going to ruin that blue skirt of hers but Roxas couldn't tell her- she began talking again, voice never wavering.

"My twin brother- so few know his name… Hiroshi… Hiroshi had just gotten into the Shinra SOLDIER program. He was only 15… we were about to turn 16 the week before he was killed. We had no other life… you know how it is out in Rocket Town. It's like the wild west, and there were no prospects for us out there." So that placed her accent, at least… Roxas stayed back, not wanting to startle her out of her story. "He left for the military the day he turned 15. He was so excited when he got into SOLDIER, he called me, he was so overjoyed about it… he couldn't wait for a letter to reach me, he said. Then he got put on the Nibelheim assignment and he had to call again, to tell me he got assigned to the same place as the great general Sephiroth. I was so happy for him, I could have burst. To think, my brother, assigned with someone so famous… I was so overjoyed for him.

"Then I didn't hear from him one night. You know how it takes news a little time to reach places… I worried, but I figured there had been a raid or something and I didn't get too frightened. The next morning on the news, I saw that Nibelheim had been utterly destroyed. I prayed and prayed that he was safe- I wouldn't eat breakfast just so I could go to the church, I took time from the literature club at my school to go to the church… I prayed for him to just knock on the door, with a couple of scratches at worst, smile at me in that lopsided way he had, and say 'hey, sis, I'm home'. Just like he'd never left…

"But the day I turned 16… that afternoon, when I got home from the church… my mother was crying, my father wasn't inside… I saw the letter… mother tried to keep it away from me, she really did, but I was panicked and I took it. She'd been crying all day, she didn't have the strength to keep it from me. I read it… the whole thing… I remember what it said word for word even, because I had to read it so many times just to believe it…

"'To the parents… we are sorry to inform you that your son Hiroshi has died in the line of duty. His body will be sent home for burial in the manner of your choosing. Shinra will pay all expenses.' That was it… just a stupid form letter… saying my brother, the only close friend I ever had… was dead. His cremation… I had to scatter his ashes because my mother shot herself and my father… that strong man whom I had never seen cry until the day we got that letter… he drank himself silly and got killed in a bar fight shortly after mom died. She didn't last through the rites, and her family took father and mother. Only Demyx's mother and father cared for me after that.

"I scattered my brother's ashes… what was left of them, anyway… over the plains. He loved them so much, because they symbolized freedom to him. I found out later that he had gone to the reactor because he was supposed to be patrolling it, keeping an eye out… that was why he was in Nibelheim in the first place. Hiroshi was the bravest person I knew… I was so honored to be his twin…" Now those shoulders, the thin shoulders of the girl, were quaking with held-in sobs. Still she continued her story.

"I wanted to die after Hiroshi died. Demyx's parents moved from Radiant Garden to take care of me after my parents died, and Demyx wouldn't let me die. Would you believe…" she said, trying to smile, "he's only just turned 19? Here's this 16 year old girl getting scolded by her 14-going-on-15-going-on-four cousin about how he'll personally stick an IV in her if she doesn't eat something when he's terrified of needles himself. It's almost comical in retrospect. But nothing replaces a twin lost. Nothing replaces that connection with another soul, someone you've known all your life. Kids will foolishly say that their best friend, someone they've been around since diapers, knows so much about them they might as well be their twin. That connection of sharing the same womb isn't there- they don't understand what real twins do. When Hiroshi died, a part of me, the part that could ever be really happy… died with him. When I turned 17 and graduated, I decided to join the Turks…"

"Why?" Roxas asked, the first question he'd had through this mess. Izumi looked up at him, and stared, those violet eyes clouded and blank.

"Why? Because they killed the only person I've ever cared about. I want to be the one to take out Hojo for being the catalyst for all this shit. Though I'm seriously hoping the man will take himself out in some freaky lab explosion. I hate his guts… and I hate Shinra for condoning this… I know it was Rufus's father, and Rufus disagrees with his policies, but damn if I don't find it hard to protect him sometimes. Those are the days I just have to stay home, those days I can't control my emotions like that." Suddenly Roxas rushed over to Izumi, dropped to the dirt by her, and hugged her. The sobs she had been caging finally broke loose; she sat there for a good half hour, just crying for her lost brother. And suddenly Roxas understood why she'd told him this.

_She thinks I can understand her because I'm a twin orphan too… not the exact circumstances, since I still have Sora, but she thinks I'll be able to visualize… to relate… and she's right._ He thought. _I don't know what I'd do if I didn't have Sora around…if I could never see him again._ Suddenly, Izumi pushed him away.

"Backseat of the car. The flowers I bought… I need them." She handed him the clicker and sent him on his way, and he went. When he got back, she was back on her feet, the only sign she'd even collapsed like that the dust on her skirt. Tears stained her face, but it stood to reason. When he handed her the large bouquet, she smiled and placed it in the dead center of the ruins, praying silently for a moment. As they headed back to the car, she sighed.

"Roxas, I wasn't entirely truthful earlier, when I gave my reasons for being a Turk. Yes, it is a lot that I want to kill Hojo for being responsible for my family dying, directly or indirectly as you see it. But I wanted to be a Turk so I could find out more about his death- find out what happened to him. And something he left behind." She pulled a thin chain from her shirt, white gold and sapphire glittering. "When he got into SOLDIER, he took part of his bonus and found these twin necklaces. He never took his off, and neither did I. When the body was sent home, he didn't have it. His neck was intact and the chain is tough enough it won't break like that. It had even twisted around his neck in death, there was an imprint. But where had it gone? I want his pendant back. And I'll kill to get it. Hell, I've done it before, and I'm only 20. I'll kill to get his pendant back, and then they can kill me if they like, because I will have nothing to live for anymore. Just…" she smiled. "Don't tell Demmy I said that. He'd kill me himself."

"I won't. Twin secret." Roxas agreed, getting a shocked look from Izumi. "Hey, even if your twin dies, you still shared a womb with them. Nothing changes that, so you're still a twin."

"True enough…" Izumi smiled, lightening up on the way back.

--

"Izumi! Where did you take Roxas, Axel's freaking out!" Demyx cried as the two arrived home. Roxas rolled his eyes; what did he think, the girl was going to steal him?

"AXEL! I TOOK HIM WITH ME ON MY ERRAND! CHILL!" Izumi shouted. Nanashi started barking and Zexion looked annoyed, tapping his foot in that way he did only when he was mad. Axel came outside and started arguing with Izumi about how if she was going to take Roxas to ask him first, and Izumi argued back with the fact that Roxas was legally an adult so Axel needed to butt the hell out. Roxas sighed.

"Thank Gaea I'm used to commotion." Roxas sighed. Demyx grinned.

"You think this is bad you should have seen my band in high school!" And so a fairly normal day passed.


	6. Chapter 6

Title: Cat's Cradle

Summary: (AU-ish: keeps details from the game but mixes them with FFVII and a healthy dose of my own little mental universe- will have many descriptions, for clarity.) One wouldn't expect Axel to be a Turk. Then again, one wouldn't expect Roxas to be on the run for something he didn't do. But since when has anything been normal?

Rating: M

Warnings: The general shit. No citrus forseen. (Note: 'general shit' entails violence, language, possible mentions of nudity… and a meddling female OC not unlike Sakura.)

BGM: None

Comments: Random idea that smacked me upside the head. Enjoy. I want this to be the last filler chapter- they have to start heading back soon, you know. ^_^ And I want to develop more of the relationship between Axel and Roxas, which isn't possible with Demmy and Zexy holding the spot light. (Holy crap, I just realized... this and Dybbuk have been up here for a year and I haven't finished either of them yet! Well, finished posting. I've got them finished on my hard drive. For the people who still read these two fics, thank you! I am sorry I am a lazy wench and don't update as frequently as I should. I'll admit to getting discouraged for a while on these because my OCs weren't well recieved. But now, eh. I've got a story to tell and I'll be damned if I let it go unfinished because I've got my heart on my sleeve for anyone to do damage to. Also... the dog that was the inspiration for Nanashi died recently. Just thought I'd throw that out there. He was about five years old.)

Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts. Which is a fact that I am glad for, because that means I don't have Xemnas trying to find me and force me to give him the rights to it. You can have that one, Nomura-sama, he's all yours. (My brain deserts me when I'm awake at six in the blinking morning.)  


* * *

Shot VI: Leaving; a place to call home  


* * *

"Puppy!"

"Puppy!"

"Here, Puppy!"

"QUIT CALLING IT 'PUPPY'! IT HAS A NAME, DAMMIT!" Zexion growled. Demyx and Axel looked up from where they were playing with the dog, noticing the startled look on Roxas's face and Izumi's calm gaze never wavering from the paper. "Izumi, curb your cousin and coworker!"

"Why? Zexion, you know Nanashi means 'no name'." Izumi smiled when Nanashi walked over to her, circled around her feet, and laid down, head on top of them.

"Why would you name him 'Nanashi' anyway?" Roxas asked.

"Well, I didn't exactly intend to get him." She shrugged and folded the paper up. "Lessee… I was hanging here for a weekend, wasn't I, Demyx?"

"Think so." He nodded. "I know so- that was back when I'd just graduated and moved here and you were coming in because I was depressed the band had broken up."

"Right. We were out walking one day and found this little puppy stuck in a ditch. Poor baby, big old fluff ball and he couldn't get out… he was still little then. Demyx went in and got him out, took him to the vet. Since he was still only about 17, they weren't letting him claim the dog, so I had to claim him. I didn't want him, but I figured if Demmy wanted him he could keep him, so I just said he didn't have a name yet. That way Demyx could name him." Izumi grinned as Nanashi moved a little in his sleep. "The woman wrote down 'Nanashi'. When he came back from the vet clean and everything, he never left me alone. I swear I must know how a mama duck feels now… he was always at my heels, yipping at me and telling me he wanted this or that…"

"I was his happy-fun-playtime pal, Izumi was his mama." Demyx grinned, perching on the seat by Zexion, who was calming down. He didn't know the whole story about Nanashi- he knew the meaning of the name, sure, because Izumi showed him the kanji once, but he had met Demyx roughly a month after this incident. "She didn't take him home with her at first, said she didn't think her apartment allowed pets, but he cried every night until I talked to her, and put her on the phone with him."

"Reno thought I was crazy until I told him it was the dog crying for me- he thought you were my lover and I had a kid until I explained that you're my cousin and the dog was crying for me, not a kid." Izumi sighed. "After getting funny looks for humming stuff over the phone to get him to calm down for a week, I finally just came down here for a weekend and came back with a little fluffball sleeping in a crate in my passenger seat." Izumi smiled as she leaned down to ruffle the dog's ears. "And I wouldn't have it any other way."

"So he's only Nanashi because you didn't think you were going to keep him?" Roxas asked.

"Well, not entirely. After I decided to keep him I couldn't think of a better name than Nanashi for a Turk's dog, so I kept it. At least a few people see the irony in it." With that, she got to her feet. "Well, I'm gonna follow Nanashi's example and hit the hay."

"But it's still early!" Demyx protested.

"It's midnight, Demmy, and I want to go shopping tomorrow, plus I should call your parents and tell them hi and ask how the cats are. They aren't going to be happy to hear I'm still a Turk but I wouldn't change my job… can't… not really." She sighed and turned away, leaving the room with a sleepy dog on her heels. Zexion got to his feet and put the book away, yawning.

"Demyx, she's right- and I'm rather sleepy myself. Good night, everyone." Zexion turned and left the room, and knowing that he wasn't going to have any company unless he went right then and there too, Demyx bade everyone goodnight and left behind his boyfriend. Roxas stretched and headed for his own room, falling onto the bed and almost instantly passing out.

Or at least, he would have had someone not knocked on the door. "Who is it?"

"Axel- are you decent?" Without waiting for an answer, the redhead barged in and sat down on the foot of Roxas's bed. "Look… I enjoy spending time with these guys a lot, but we need to get back to Midgar. Reno's probably found all sorts of information for me, and we have more resources to get to Larxene there. Plus… your brother is likely worrying."

"He's got Riku there for him, Sora's gonna be okay…" The blond punctuated that last word with a yawn. "And Cloud's got one less mouth to feed too…"

"He's also got another worry on his mind. Come on, Roxas- you're not being arrested. I promise you that. I'll see myself retired from the Turks before I break that promise too."

"Retiring isn't so bad…" Roxas said, sitting up blearily.

"Yes it is. Did Izumi tell you what a Turk is, essentially?" When Roxas shook his head no, Axel sighed. "Roxas- we're basically mercenaries. We assassinate people if we have to. We're so elite, few people get in without an invitation. Izumi's one of the few, and definitely the youngest. Do you know how old she was when she was initiated? She was 17. I was 18. She's a year younger than me and the same rank. Do you know how she would have done that? She is one of the best of the best- it's her detachment. Trust me, Roxas, Izumi's a tough one. You'd rather have me after you than her."

"If she's so tough, why did I see her break down the other day?" Roxas said- his brain was fogged by sleep and he wasn't thinking enough to watch what he said. "At the ruins of the reactor… she told me about her brother… she broke down… she told me she only made a point to join the Turks because she wants revenge…" Axel was floored. She knew the kid less than 24 hours and she spilled her life story to him? That was totally un-Izumi.

"Kid… don't tell anyone that story. It'll get her in trouble. I'm going to pretend I never heard it, myself. And as to my original point… Roxas, we're mercenaries. When we get retired, it's not by choice, and it's not pensioned. It's forced at gunpoint and the family gets a lovely little letter saying their Turk baby was killed in action." Axel sighed. "You get it, Roxas? We don't retire- we die. And if anyone hears about Izumi's motives, she'll get retired for sure." Now Roxas was awake.

"I'll… I'll try to pretend I never heard her story. I just wish… I wish that there were a way I could help her."

"There is. One, don't tell that story. Two, come back to Midgar with me." Axel said. "That way they don't discipline me, fuck with my brother, or send Izumi after your ass. Remember- one of the best of the best, she'll do anything to get her quarry."

"Wait a minute- you said Turks were pretty much invitation only. So how did she get in just after her graduation? And the Mako eyes?" Axel blinked in shock. "My cousin Cloud- he was a member of SOLDIER… I know what Mako eyes are, I know what they look like. How did she get them, I thought those were only for SOLDIER."

"Every so often we hold interviews to make it seem like a more fair selection- a few get chosen to work in Shinra middle management, and the desk jobs suit them more than the action we see. Occasionally there will be a promising person who makes it through the obstacle course without any trouble and even asks 'what's next?' Izumi was one of those people, what I've heard anyhow. She even went so far as to judo-throw her examiner just because he snuck up on her. Oh, was Reno ever pissed…"

"Reno… you've mentioned him twice, who's he?"

"That's my older brother. He almost didn't want to let her in, but he took a good look at her and decided she had spunk and determination so she merited a shot. As to the Mako eyes… we have them too, don't you see?" Roxas took a good look at Axel's poison green eyes and noticed…

"It's there… faint… but Izumi's you can tell."

"I'm keeping it under control. Plus I'm tired and that makes the Mako look weaker. But Izumi… she wanted to be the best- she took more treatments than the average Turk. She went to the very point of Mako poisoning before they cut her off. She didn't come in for training for a week and I asked Reno about it. He's always been closer to her than I have, but then again… up until a week ago I couldn't remember her name."

The two sat up for about an hour after that, trading stories. On the other side of the wall, Izumi sat in the dark, listening, tears silently falling down her face. Nanashi was asleep again, never seeing his mistress's softly-heaving shoulders, or really registering the smell of saltwater that trickled down her face. It hurt to be so close to Hiroshi- and yet so far away at the same time.

--

The next day dawned beautifully. Izumi came in morose. Demyx knew why right then and ushered her outside, holding on to his cousin as the others ate breakfast. Everyone knew why she was in tears- no one had to speak. Finally Demyx and Izumi came back in, the girl washing her face off in the kitchen sink. "Hey! Have some couth!" Axel said jokingly, rolling his eyes. Izumi flipped him the bird as she dried her face off.

"This is how I roll. Deal with it." She replied. "So… Demmy… I gotta head home today."

"So soon? Mi-Mi, you never stay long!" Demyx pouted. Izumi hugged her cousin and laughed.

"But I have to get back to work! I promise you, after this mess is cleared up, I'll come back here… or I'll bring you to Midgar for a week! Yeah, you and Zexion both! Or we could even split the time, I have a freaking month of vacation coming to me after this… maybe we could all hit Gold Saucer even!"

"When are you going to visit Mom and Dad?" Demyx asked, but he was smiling; apparently this was a question of no matter.

"I'll visit home when they no longer call me a traitor and throw shit at my head because I'm a Turk. Effectively, when I'm dead." Izumi pulled it off with a light tone but Axel and Roxas had to fight a cringe; the three knew what it meant but the boys knew it would be a possibility if something slipped. Demyx just laughed as if it were the funniest thing he'd ever heard. "Well, guys, we'd best pack."

"What? You're taking Axey and Roxy too?" Demyx mourned.

"Sorry, gotta get back to work, and you should know Roxas's story. After all, Izumi filled you in, didn't she?" Axel grinned. Demyx nodded sadly. "Hey, bet we have this finished faster than you can blink. With Roxy on our side, we can't lose!"

"You make it sound like some silly sports manga…" Izumi, Roxas, and surprisingly enough Zexion intoned.

--

The three were back in Midgar after two days of travel on the main roads. No sooner did Roxas pull into the driveway than he was attacked by his twin.

"ROXAS!" Sora screamed, hugging his twin for dear life. "My god, Cloud told us you'd gone on a trip and then the Turks came to talk about you and I was so scared and so was Namine and dear sweet Gaea you terrified us all and why didn't you call me and…"

"SORA!" Roxas yelled. "Look, it's a long story. I'm sure you know the gist of it, and I'll explain the whole deal later. But for now, let's say I'm helping find Larxene so I can have my revenge for this crap. I couldn't call because I had a mistaken idea they were going to arrest me. And… you told Namine?!"

"I had to… but she'll be better when she hears you're back!" Sora grinned. "So call her!"

"Fine, fine… you're a pain in my ass sometimes, you know that?" Roxas sighed, and smiled as he pulled out his cell phone.

--

"IZUMI! AXEL!" Reno called, happy to see the two. Axel looked miffed.

"So she's more important than your only brother?" Axel huffed.

"Of course! She's a girl," Reno teased. "You know I call out who I see first."

"I know, bro." Axel hugged his brother while Izumi just stood there, Nanashi on his leash sitting at her heels. Suddenly, with no warning, the two brothers drew the girl into their hug.

"You get in on this too!" they said, and Izumi just had to smile and laugh. It was a crack in her shell and they knew it- the knowledge that she wasn't as hard as she liked to seem made them happy for some reason, and they kept holding on to the smaller girl.

As families and friends reunited again, no one could foresee that the happy times were soon to be done, and a time of strife was soon to begin.


End file.
